The terrible camera also makes the game's lackluster combat more of a chore than it should be. CID can make use of both ranged and melee combat. Melee combat is pretty simple, relying on the repetitive mashing of a single button to repeatedly perform a multi-punch combo. While this is fairly bland, at least it works, which is more than I can say for the ranged combat. CID's ranged attacks utilize a bazooka that he always has handy, which can also change between different ammunition that he finds throughout the game such as rubber bullets, fire, and ice rounds. Many enemies in the game are made slightly easier to defeat due to their weaknesses to specific types of ammo, which makes the fact that it is virtually impossible to aim given your perspective that much more aggravating. If you do happen to attempt to use the bazooka during combat, much of your limited ammo is usually spent just trying to get the correct angle on your foe so that your shots will actually make contact.

With the camera making the most basic of platforming and combat challenges needlessly too difficult, it seems rather odd that this game, targeted towards a younger audience, would go even one step further to ensure the player won't make it through the title. I'm of course speaking about the game's poor checkpoint system and reliance on a finite number of lives.

Throughout every level, you'll come across several checkpoints that will allow you to start at that point rather than needing to completely restart from the beginning. Unfortunately, this only holds true as long as you have lives. If you manage to lose all of your lives during a level, say from continuously missing platforms or not being able to hit enemies at a distance, you'll find yourself having to restart the level again from the beginning. Whereas in most games this may not seem like a punishment, because it allows you to learn from your mistakes and correct them on your next try, you can't fix this game's terrible camera, so making it through levels often just boils down to a matter of getting lucky with some jumps and/or with bazooka fire.

Sadly, CID the Dummy just doesn't get much right. While the gameplay isn't completely terrible, it is made so due to the awful camera that has been implemented. The characters and enemies in the game don't really exude any kind of charm either, making the game feel rather generic and unimportant while playing. You'll also hear the same few unfunny dialogue clips regurgitated more times than you'll care to count during the course of the game. In fact, perhaps the best thing about the game is its visuals because they are at least on par with most other PSP offerings. However, if you're looking for an entertaining platforming experience that won't make you want to spike your PSP off the ground, you should definitely look elsewhere.